UFla: 4 fighters arrested at Pi Kappa Phi

[hoosier]

Frat members charged in fights on Fraternity Row
By BRITTANY RAJCHEL
Sun staff writer


September 05. 2005 6:01AM


Four University of Florida students were arrested Saturday night after campus police said they were involved in two separate fights on Fraternity Row.
In what the University Police Department officials called a "game melee," Kyle A. Cain and Jordan Adam Light, both 21, and Derek Oliver Goldsmith and Phillip Matthew Joseph, both 19, were arrested on charges of misdemeanor battery, police reports show.
The four were found outside the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house - the same fraternity which had members involved in a fight with UF football players a year ago.
The victims and two witnesses told police that Cain, Light, Goldsmith and Joseph attacked three members of other fraternities on Fraternity Row during Saturday's football game before running into the Pi Kappa Phi house, where they were arrested at 7:45 p.m., according to UPD.
A student Web site shows that Cain, Goldsmith and Joseph are Pi Kappa Phi members. Also, Goldsmith's home address listed on the police report is the same as Pi Kappa Phi. It is unknown if Light is also a member.
Pi Kappa Phi fraternity president Joshua Peck said the fraternity would not comment on the matter.
Last year, former football coach Ron Zook confronted some members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity after three football players were beaten up at a late-night party. Charges against the Pi Kappa Phi members involved were later dropped.
The circumstances surrounding Saturday's attack are unclear.
Michael Craig Plucinksi, Jacob Danner Fuller and Russell Reid Cochran received minor injuries and were treated and released at the scene.
Plucinksi identified Goldsmith as his attacker, according to police reports, while victims Fuller and Cochran identified Light, Joseph and Cain as hitting and punching them.
Plucinski, Fuller and Cochran told police that all four of the men were present at both fights.
A student Web site shows Plucinski is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. TKE officers declined to comment on the incident.
Paul Walsh, Sigma Chi's president, said two of the victims were members of his fraternity. He declined to comment further on the episode.
Interfraternity Council President John Dicks said that leaders in the fraternities involved would work together to resolve the issue, so it does not escalate into a "turf war."
"Stuff happens, and in this case, I'm confident that the fraternity leadership will come out to mend fences," he said.
It is unclear what actions UF's Student Judicial Affairs will take against Pi Kappa Phi or its members.
However, Dicks said that Saturday's game-day melee, along with the run-in with the football team in September 2004, might not reflect well on the fraternity.